This invention generally relates to the inspection of glass containers. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting glass containers for a defect known as a bird-swing. Specifically, this invention relates to an improvement in such inspection devices which allows rejection of a defective container at a remote location downstream of the inspection device.
A bird-swing detector for glass containers may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,883. The device has proven effective in detecting bird-swing defects. However, an operational problem with this gauge has arisen as the number of containers to be inspected per unit time has increased. At higher container throughput rates, defective containers could not be reliably rejected at the gauge output end. The cited patent shows rejecting a defective container as soon as it leaves the gauge. At the higher speeds, a defective container occasionally may not be cleared before the following container struck it, or, in some cases, the rejection mechanism could not react fast enough and the defective container could be passed while the next, good container would be rejected. To avoid this congestion at the gauge exit, we have designed a memory system which will clock a signal representing a defective container at a rate equal to the rate of travel of the container and then reject the container at a remote location downstream of the gauge exit. Examples of the prior art in this respect may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,471,012; 3,565,249 and 3,757,940.